Sharing & Connecting For Service-Learning With Facebook
Learn and Serve America’s National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
Why use Facebook? Facebook has more than 200 million active
users, and over 100 million users who log on to facebook at least once each day (Facebook, 2009) www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
A growing number of students and youth are engaging with each other through social networking, and meeting them where they are is a way to stay relevant
Facebook is a free & easy way to help you expand your reach and engage participants and supporters in a new way
What can Facebook help me do?
stay in touch with participants, supporters, partners in your community
make new connections with friends-to-be inside or outside your community
organize, promote, and manage events
What can Facebook help me do?, cont.
promote your latest news, successes
raise public awareness of service-learning
support your learning community
….all with little technical expertise
Types of pages on Facebook
Profiles: personal page for individuals
Fan Page: Fan pages are usually created to represent an organization or institution and are visible to the public
Groups: Groups can be created around any topic, and are open to invited members only
Can I just use my Profile
Page?
No. Facebook’s terms of service clearly state that you may not use a profile page on behalf of any group or entity.
Facebook Groups vs. Fan Pages
Both allow you to:
announce meetings & events
plan events
post photos, videos
connect students, faculty, and community partners/members
have discussions with members
Facebook Groups - Pros
Pros:
easy to set up
easy recruitment: allow you to send bulk messages to friends inviting them to join
updates go to member inboxes, which many users are more likely to check
members can easily engage with each other through discussion forums
Facebook Groups - Cons
Cons:
not indexed, can only be found through an internal Facebook search
limit to 5,000 fans
no visitor statistics
Facebook Pages – Pros
Pros:
indexed, so that users outside of Facebook can find your page
public, can be viewed even if you’re not a Facebook member
provides visitor statistics
allows an unlimited number of fans
Facebook Pages - Cons.
Cons:
recruitment is limited to marketing, not direct invitation
messages sent to fans go to their notification bar instead of their inbox, which may be more easily ignored
changes to pages don’t show up in newsfeeds
fewer options for engaging with fans
How To Create a Facebook Group Create a personal Profile Page (you will need this
to be a group admin.)
From Settings (top Right) choose ‘Application Settings’, then Groups, then ‘Create a New Group’
Choose a relevant title and description for your group
Invite existing Facebook friends or email contacts to join the group
Update regularly! Keep your content fresh and engaging!
Facebook Groups – Tips & Tricks
There are different types of Groups: global, closed, and secret. A global group means anyone can join, a closed groups means that the administrator needs to first approve anyone who has applied to join, and a secret group means that individuals must be invited to join. Consider which type would be best for your Group.
What are administrators & officers? An administrator has control over the content and membership of your group. Consider having more than one administrator to help share the duties. Officers have no 'power', but their name and title are displayed on the page. This could be useful to provide information about your service-learning center's staff, for example.
One of the great things about groups is that you can send a message to all of your members at once. To do this, simply go to the group's page and click "message all members" beneath the group photo.
Facebook Groups – Tips & Tricks, cont.
Uploading photos is one great way to add content and interest to your page. You can upload any .jpg, .gif, .bmp, or .png file that is 15MB or under. You can then write a caption for the photo and 'tag' it to indicate members in the photo.
You can use your Facebook group to plan and market events. Right below your group photo you will see a link that says "Create Related Event". This leads you to the event creation page where you can simply follow the directions and start inviting your members.
Want to delete your group? Facebook will delete your group automatically once there are no members, so simply remove all members as well as yourself and the group will be deleted.
More Information
A Beginner's Guide to Facebook - TechSouphttp://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/page7430.cfm
Facebook Help: www.facebook.com/help